More Terror Attacks In Europe

It was supposed to be a fun night full of music and adoration for a celebrity you have always dreamed of seeing in person, for real. The music is good and the venue is jam-packed. The show has ended and everyone is readying to leave when BANG, a loud explosion fills the place. Then, panic sets in and everyone else scrambles to leave. Sounds like a movie plot, but no, it’s real life.

Terrorists strike in strategic places to capture the attention of the world. They thrive on people’s fear and anger and will likely strike back once the public’s attention has shifted to more trivial things, and away from important societal rights. Over the past decade, we have witnessed increased terrorist activity all over the globe. Despite the focus of many groups, including the European Rail Congress, these terrorists thrive when they are in the spotlight. And once we panic, it means that they have achieved their purpose.

The reactions by Western leaders and media to the latest Islamic terror attack essentially “signal in the strongest way possible to organizations such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hezbollah and Hamas, that with every devastating attack, the West is ripe for the taking.” So writes lawyer and political analyst Judith Bergman for the Gatestone Institute.

Among the political reactions to the attack at a rock concert in Manchester, in which 22 young people were killed and 59 wounded, the vast majority of them did not mention the fact that it was perpetrated by a Muslim. Most were along the lines of the response by President of the European Council Donald Tusk, who tweeted, “My heart is in Manchester this night. Our thoughts are with the victims” and that of British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who called it a “tragic incident.”

Who would’ve thought that a happy gathering of fans in Manchester will turn out to be a massacre the world will forever remember. Lives were lost and many more injured from the bombing attack. Although it is not yet officially ruled out as a terrorist attack, it is a big possibility as the attack’s motive. For many of Ariana Grande’s fans especially the ones who lost their lives that night, it was indeed the “one last time” they will ever see their idol or the light of day.

Speaking in the Polish Parliament on Wednesday, Beata Szydło seized the moment to launch an excoriating attack on European Union leaders following the Manchester attack which, among others, claimed the lives of a Polish couple, leaving their two daughters as orphans.

“We are not going to take part in the madness of the Brussels elite,” she railed. “We want to help people, not the political elites.

“Where are you headed Europe?” she demanded. “Rise from your knees and from your lethargy or you will be crying over your children every day.

“If you can’t see this – if you can’t see that terrorism currently has the potential to hurt every country in Europe, and you think that Poland should not defend itself, you are going hand in hand with those who point this weapon against Europe, against all of us.

“It needs to be said clearly and directly: This is an attack on Europe, on our culture, on our traditions.”

Many European countries have banded together and shown their support for Manchester and all the victims of this violent yet senseless crime. Many are scared while others are outraged. Yet the Polish Prime Minister said something sensible that all of Europe, or even the world, should think about. There will be no end to these terrorist attacks if we always cower in fear at the thought of them hurting us or any of our loved ones. We need to acknowledge that such an attack is an attack against all of humanity and we must fight back or forever be threatened by these heartless terrorists. Until we all unite and do just that, any nation will remain vulnerable to these terrorist attacks for who knows how long.